(Carl) There’s a conference going on in Doha, Qatar on Sunday and Monday – its logo is at the top of this post. It’s officially called the ‘International Conference for Jerusalem,’ but it is also known as the International Conference for the ‘Defense of Jerusalem,’ and what Jerusalem is being ‘defended’ against is ‘Judaization.’

Speaking at the International Conference for the Defense of Jerusalem in Doha, Qatar, Abbas was quoted by the Palestinian Ma’an news agency as saying, “The Israeli occupation authorities are using the ugliest and most dangerous means to implement plans to erase and remove the Arab-Islamic and the Christian character of east Jerusalem.”The Palestinian Authority president accused Israel of “surrounding Jerusalem with an Apartheid wall and a band of settlements in order to isolate the city from its surroundings in the West Bank.”Abbas slammed Israeli authorities for setting up barriers preventing Palestinians from entering Jerusalem without “almost impossible to obtain” permits.He implored Arabs and Muslims from other countries to visit Jerusalem if they can. “This move will have political, moral, economic and humanitarian repercussions, showing that Jerusalem belongs to all of us and no one can stop us from accessing it.”He added that visiting “occupied Jerusalem” would remind the Israelis that “Jerusalem is the cause of every Arab, Muslim and Christian,” and would not constitute normalization with Israel.The International Conference for the Defense of Jerusalem was taking place for the first time Sunday. This followed a decision made by delegates to last year’s Arab summit in Libya to hold an annual international conference that would include Arab and foreign countries and civil institutions, to discuss defending Jerusalem “against Israeli violation at all levels.”

Among those present at the conference are five ‘Israeli Arab’ members of the Knesset: Ahmad Tibi, Taleb a-Sanaa, Haneen Zoabi, Jamal Zahalka and Ibrahim Sarsur. There’s also a representative of the US State Department there: Kenneth Raymond Insley, Jr. And a representative of American Friends of ‘Peace Now’: Lara Friedman.One has to wonder what the State Department – and even ‘Peace Now’ – are doing at a conference against the ‘Judaization’ of Jerusalem.